Vilas has a gifted talent to write stories from Indian Mythology. I am surprised everytime I read a book written by him. His use of language and narrative is very fluent and rich. I never felt bored of reading ‘Perfect Love: 5.5 Ways to a Lasting Relationship’. This book is a treasure for the people who wish to understand the meaning of ‘True Love‘. Traditional Vedic Indian culture is purely based on human experience. Vilas picked some of those beautiful experiences and cultivated the complicated meaning of love in his own methodical way to depict the true love’s consequences. More you read ‘Perfect Love’, more you understand the hidden signs of love and its true nature.

Paperback Cover Page: Perfect Love by Shubha Vilas

I am reading books of Shuba Vilas from the beginning of his ‘Ramayana: The Game of Life’ series. His talent of the writing is unconditional. ‘Perfect Love’ is one of the jewels. I would suggest all the readers, please collect the book and read the hidden treasure from Indian Myth. Love has no boundaries and love is equally stronger to fight the evil. Love is a gift. Love is pure. God loves us all, and the only sacrifice can lead us into the enlightenment of love for Him.

‘Perfect Love’ is about six omnibuses published in a single volume for the first time. Here you can read all the beloved stories of Nala and Damayanti, Lord Krishna and Devi Rukmini, Shakuntala and Dushyanta, Udayana and Vasavadatta, Satyavan and Savitri, Draupadi and the Five Pandavas.

I have a suggestion to Mr. Shubha Vilas. Please inclued some interesting illustraions in the next edition of ‘Perfect Love’.

With love,

Vikram Roy

]]>https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/13/perfect-love-by-shubha-vilas-a-review/feed/0vikramroyblog20181113_140422.jpgSweden: Walked on Water with Storsjöodjuret, the Lake Monster.https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/06/walked-on-water-with-storsjoodjuret-the-lake-monster/
https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/06/walked-on-water-with-storsjoodjuret-the-lake-monster/#respondSat, 05 May 2018 20:53:30 +0000http://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/?p=7560It was 30th March, Good Friday. The city of Östersund was celebrating a holiday. All shops and public transportation communication were closed. We had no other option but calling our friend in the city, Mr. C. Martin. Martin is one of our good family friends, an old man, aged 61. We do not disturb him without his own interest in roaming. But today he has somehow seemed energetic. It was Good Friday we do not want him to be alone either. We stepped together out with him in search of the Storsjöodjuret, the Lake Monster.

Me Standing on Storsjön Lake

We were five people. First, we traveled to the Ski Resort snow hill. Had warming hot coffee over the hill. There were snow cannons and ropeway. But due to the holiday, all were closed. We found the Östersund Zoo but closed as well.

Aayushi playing with Lockless Monster at Östersunds kommun.

We traveled back to Storsjön, the fifth largest lake in Sweden. Also, popular for the myth of Storsjöodjuret, the Lockless monster. The lake was frozen solid and it became the Vinter Parken or Winter Park during the winter season. People surrounded by the city gathered in the evening to see the sunset and say hi to the Lockless Monster.

We run on the lake, one corner to the other. Played with ducks. Finally, crossed the lake and met the mythical Storsjöodjuret. Some folks say its real. Some say its just a myth. Some claims they saw Storsjöodjuret. He lives under the deep blue water of Storsjön.

Storsjöodjuret, the Lake Monster, Shekhar Roy, Mr. C. Martin and Me.

Imagine, there perhaps a Lockless monster living under the frozen lake, maybe hibernating. Will wake up in the summer, and swim across the lake, unobserved, keeping a great secret of its existence.

We had evening meditation, by the lake and set goodbye to the Lockless monster.

With love,

Vikram Roy

]]>https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/06/walked-on-water-with-storsjoodjuret-the-lake-monster/feed/0vikramroyblog20180330_173102P_20180327_153818IMG-20180404-WA001920180330_174939Sweden: One Day at Åre Ski Resort.https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/25/one-day-at-are-ski-resort/
https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/25/one-day-at-are-ski-resort/#respondWed, 25 Apr 2018 17:11:42 +0000http://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/?p=7553The day three in Sweden, my brother in law took us to the Åre Ski Resort. This is the one of the world’s top Ski Resort. This mountain resort has been selected for the 2019 WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS. Here, every second is getting counted by a Longines’s countdown clock.

The day we woke up 7 am in the morning, had breakfast and took the bus to Östersund Station. Our train was on 9:00 am from the Snowcity to Station Åre, Jämtland County. The distance between Åre and Östersund is 98 km or 61 miles. It was 1 hrs. 30 mins. journey by train.

Standing Outside Station Åre.

During the journey both the side, it was a nice and scenic view, full of icy hills, river, lakes and pine trees. Truly paradise. Though I am not sure of the local folks, how they deal with this place in their daily life. But I saw the small villages and towns side by the railway line, the people out there were looking bright and healthy.

The train reached the station around 10: 25 am. We found the Tourism office and took a local guidebook. Outside the station, our destination is to find out the big cable car which is taking the passengers to the top of the Ski Resort. After getting some help from the local’s we finally found the way to reach the snow covered mountain top.

Inside the cable car to reach Åre Ski Resort

When we reached the top, it was completely frozen, a heavy cold wind and snow storm were heating us. We like the cold but it was reminding me of the ice dragon was breathing on my face and whenever I removed my gloves to take few photos, I was unable to feel my hands. They were burned in the cold and senseless as well.

We stay there on top of the mountain for a little more than one hour and then came down to the city market around 2:30 pm.

We found the people were enjoying the winter sports at the Ski Resort.

We reached back to the Snow City at night 10:20 pm. The day went well.

With love,

Vikram Roy

]]>https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/25/one-day-at-are-ski-resort/feed/020180328_152510_HDRvikramroyblog20180328_165726.jpgP_20180328_154622_1.jpg20180328_153819_HDR.jpgSweden: First time -19 °C Experience in Östersund.https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/17/first-time-19-c-experience-in-ostersund/
https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/17/first-time-19-c-experience-in-ostersund/#commentsTue, 17 Apr 2018 16:01:25 +0000http://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/?p=7547If you are living in and around Scandinavia, Russia, Nordic Islands, or Alaska, this may be very common to you. But think about the people living in the tropical or sub-tropical regions where the Summer starts a bit early in March or before March. For me, it was a surprise, I found snow covered the entire Östersund city in the month of April.

It was a special visit to my brother in law living in the city of Östersund for work. I traveled all way down from Bangalore toÖstersund. It was night 4:30 am I had my departure flight in Emirates Airlines. I had a nice vegan breakfast in the morning. I reached Dubai around 7:15 am in local time. Changed my flight to Stockholm. During the lunch, I faced a problem in the Emirates. If you are vegetarian, then, please do not forget to select your food preference during flight booking. In lunch, I got a slice of bread, butter, salad and mango mousse and a 350ml bottle of white wine. Seeing the situation and my conversation with the air hostess, the beautiful white girl sitting next to me became sympathetic and she had offered her part of those items to me. Though I refused to had more but I felt she was kind.

When I reached Arlanda Airport it was 11:15 am in local time. It was very confusing like the Snakes and Ladders happened between the local times. Indian Standard Time is 3 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Sweden.

My brother in law and me standing on snow.

I had another flight to catch from Arlanda for the final destination to Östersund. Till Arlanda, I found no major climatic difference. There was cold, but outside there was not much snow. At least at Arlanda Airport, it was not visible. When I board on Scandinavian Airlines it was evening 5:55 pm. outside I felt it was getting colder. I reached around 7:00 pm. in Arlanda. My brother in law was waiting for me at the airport.

Here to my utter surprise, I was literally freezing. Everywhere it was covered up with snow. I was shaking in the cold. While I left Bangalore, it was 18 °C at night and here it was just opposite -19 °C. I got into the car quickly to get rescue myself.

]]>https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/17/first-time-19-c-experience-in-ostersund/feed/5P_20180328_162742vikramroyblogHow to get a Tavel Visa? Here is my experince after Travelling back from Europe!https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/15/how-to-get-a-tavel-visa-here-is-my-experince-after-travelling-back-from-europe/
https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/15/how-to-get-a-tavel-visa-here-is-my-experince-after-travelling-back-from-europe/#commentsSun, 15 Apr 2018 15:30:27 +0000http://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/?p=7542Life comes up with many opportunities, I just grabbed mine. I am an ordinary man with some ordinary dreams and very simple lifestyle. I had dreams to see Europe, crossing the boundary of my homeland. I was knowing, it will be costly and the way the world has been changed, a lot of Visa documentation process I have to crack. Before I start my story. I want to tell you, this blog is not about my travel experience. It’s a walk through the process you can go for a leisure trip expending your hard earned money, anywhere around the world. And by yourself, avoiding all highly expensive travel agents and package tours.

How?

Let’s start with how easily you can get your travel Visa done within a week?

I found the easiest way to get a travel Visa through VFS Global. They have many centres in all major Indian cities. Also, you can apply for the Visa directly from online using VFS website: http://www.vfsglobal.com

Once you have filled up your requirements, they will ask you a List of Documents (LOD) to make ready before the appointment in their office. The payment for a Visa varies country to country. Also, you can pay that amount at VFS centre on the same day of your appointment after documents get verified. Once you are done with the documents part, they will ask for your biometrics and photo and they will keep your Passport. You don’t have to go to the embassy for this. Here you will save your time and a lot of money. Expect you will get back your Passport stamped with the Visa of the country/countries you had applied within next 15 days. You can collect the same from VFS Global centre, that you had visited during the appointment or you pay them a nominal amount to get it delivered to your doorstep via courier service. I opt the courier service by paying VFS Centre some $3 only. This charge may vary time to time.

Air Ticket Booking:

This is the trickiest part. You cannot buy any of the Air Tickets to reach or return to your destinations. Sometimes you need additional Transit visas to change your connecting flights. In Europe, I had the plan to go to the Scandinavian territory, Stockholm via Heathrow, London. Here for the transit through the British Airlines, I took an additional Transit Visa to change my connecting flight. Otherwise, British customs do not allow passengers to step into their airports.

Aayushi in London Heathrow Airport

Always, read the instructions before booking your flights from any website or ask your travel agents regarding Transit Visa. Or else you may lose a lot of money, rescheduling your travel itinerary.

All the best! Happy Journey.

]]>https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/15/how-to-get-a-tavel-visa-here-is-my-experince-after-travelling-back-from-europe/feed/3vikramroyblog20180331_174527Thor Ragnarok – Movie Reviewhttps://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2017/11/06/thor-ragnarok-movie-review/
https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2017/11/06/thor-ragnarok-movie-review/#respondSun, 05 Nov 2017 20:06:54 +0000http://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/?p=7427Marvel Cinematic Universe is pampering us to engulf funny movies. Last Friday “THOR Ragnarok” released in India; I and my friends went to Cinépolis Royal Meenakshi Mall Bengaluru to find it out.

Back in July 2017, it was “Spiderman: Home Coming” released and I was surprised to see Spiderman was totally ignored in that movie. They made him stupid and hilarious character throughout the movie. At the last scene, the amateur teenage Spiderman lost the opportunity to become a permanent member of the Avenger, it was senseless. He could have used his superior spider sense and judge Tony Stark, whether Tony’s offer was real or fake. But he didn’t, instead of he had missed it all.

Coming back to the THOR RAGNAROK, one of the most waiting films in 2017. Especially, Marvel movie fans like me were waiting for the grand opportunity to watch the movie in the theatre. The movie was entertaining and at the end, it was quite serious. Even the people of Asgard paid a huge loss. Gods remain helpless and the Goddess of Death, Hela embarrass the situation to finally awake the torment of the monster Ragnarok, who destroyed their city.

Gods forced down to the earth to rebuilt Asgard. Thor lost one of his eyes in the battle. The film started quite unfortunate, Thor was getting into trouble after trouble. Where Hulk was breathing oxygen without oxygen mask outside earth in the Grandmaster’s alien planet.

The movie left few questions unanswered. But it was quite an obvious to keep them open.

I found the below song in youtube, where the story has been briefly explined. I will suggest everyone to go and watch THOR RAGNAROK.

]]>https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2017/11/06/thor-ragnarok-movie-review/feed/0vikramroyblogRecipe – How to make?Adhirasam-Diwali Sweet by Dinakaran.https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/23/recipe-how-to-makeadhirasam-diwali-sweet-by-dinakaran/
https://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/23/recipe-how-to-makeadhirasam-diwali-sweet-by-dinakaran/#commentsMon, 23 Oct 2017 05:06:03 +0000http://vikramroyblog.wordpress.com/?p=7413Adhirasam/Ariselu is a Traditional South Indian sweet prepared on Diwali. It is prepared using rice flour and jaggery. This sweet can be prepared with sugar also, but since I avoid using sugar as much as possible in my recipes, I have used jaggery. Many find it intimidating to prepare this sweet but actually this is very easy to prepare, if you follow the tips and steps given properly. I am going to make it very easier for you all with my step wise pictures.

First we will see how to prepare rice flour for athirasam. (I make it very clear that you cannot use ordinary store bought rice flour to prepare this)

Wash and soak raw rice for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, drain the water completely and spread it on a cloth or paper, so that it will absorb the excess water.

After 10 minutes, dry grind the rice nicely (not too fine and not too coarse-in between both) along with cardamom.(Alternatively you can add cardamom powder to the jaggery syrup also) Sieve it and keep it in a broad vessel. You cannot store this rice flour but have to use it immediately for making athirasams.

If you have a flour mill near your place, you can get it ground there for adhirasam, which is much easier.I got it ground in the flour mill.

Grate jaggery, add just enough water to soak the jaggery. Bring it to boil, switch off. Once the jaggery dissolves, filter it to remove any impurities.Method

Boil the jaggery water until you get a soft ball consistency also known as uruttu padham in tamil. Take a small cup of water, pour a tsp of jaggery syrup into it, if you are able to collect it and make a soft ball out of it, then it is the right consistency. Switch off the flame.This is the most important step in making adhirasams.

Immediately add needed hot jaggery syrup (little by little) to the rice flour and mix it well with a ladle as you see in picture below. Cover it with a lid and let it rest. After 4-5 hours, take it out and knead it well with your hands and keep it covered with a tight lid again. Let is rest for 1-2 days. (This dough can be kept for 2 days at room temperature.You do not have to refrigerate the dough).

I left it only for 1 day.

After 1 day

Take the dough out and knead again. Divide equally and make balls.
Meantime heat oil in a kadai, once the oil is heated, reduce the flame to medium.
Grease a banana leaf or a plastic cover with ghee and flatten the ball with your hands.You can grease your hands as well to make it easier.

Take the flattened dough in your hands from the leaf and gently slip it into the oil. Fry both sides till it turns nice brown color.(Keep the heat in medium as if the heat is high, it will turn brown immediately but will remain uncooked inside)

Remove from oil. Adhirsam has the tendency to absorb lot of oil. Press the adhirsam between two slotted ladles to remove excess oil. Then put it in a colander or on a paper towel to drain remaining excess oil.

Repeat the process for the rest of the dough. Hope I have made everything clear and easy for you.Tips to repair if you go wrong

If the dough is very sticky or too loose and you are unable to make balls, then add a little wheat flour to it to get the right consistency.

If the dough is too tight, then add little more jaggery syrup or little milk to it.

Prepare or fry athirasam 1 or 2 days after preparing the athirasam dough for best results.

Another important point is you should not add rice flour to the jaggery syrup and mix but you should add jaggery syrup to the rice flour little at a time and mix well with a ladle.